Improvement in processes of compressing and reducing steel and otherjngots



G. W. BILLINGS. PROCESS OF" COMPRESSING AND REDUCING STEEL AND OTHERmews.

No.175 ,267. g- Patented March za,1s7e.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

GEORGE W. BILLINGS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

. IMPROVEMENT IN PROCESSES 0F COMPRESSING A D REDUCING STEEL ANDOTHEBJNGOTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 175,267, dated March28, 1876; application filed November 10, 1875.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BILLINGS, ofCleveland, Ohio, have invented a Process for Compressing and ReducingSteel Ingots, Piles, and Plates, of which process the following is aspecification:

Letters Patent No. 139,359 were granted to me May 27, 1873, for aprocess of manufacturing rolled iron. The machinery employed by me inthat process I now employ in a somewhat modified form in the treatmentof steel ingots.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the three-highrolls, with their housings, couplings, and spindles, constituting themachine employed by me in' compressing and reducing steel ingots. Fig. 2is a vertical section of the same on the line m y of Fig. 1. Fig. 3represents, partly in crosssection and partly in front elevation, thearrangement of the rolls I employ in compressing and reducing piles madeup of bars of steel. Figs. at and 5 are, respectively, an elevat-ion anda plan of the rolls I employ for compressing and reducing plates andsheets of steel.

In Fig. 1 the rolls are marked a a. 0. the

couplings and spindles b, and the housings c.

The rolls a. a a are divided, respectively, by collars 01, into severalcogged and plain spaces, as shown. The opposing cogged spaces in theseveral rolls correspond in diameter, and they, with the collars, formboxes or ways, 6 e e e e e e e e 0 e for the passage of the steel ingotsor piles of steel bars, as shown in Fig. 1.

The portion of each of the rolls a a a comprised in sections 1 and 2 aretwenty-eight inches in diameter, (measuring through the collars (1,) andthe portion of each of them comprised in section 3 is twenty-six inchesin diameter.

The size of the box 6 is eleven by twelve inches; box 0, ten by twelveinches; box 6 eleven by ten inches; box 6 ten by ten inches; box 0*,nine by ten inches; box 6 eight by ten inches; box a eight by nineinches; box 0", eight by eight inches; box 0 seven by eight inches; boxa", six by eight inches; box 6 six by seven inches.

The box c (eleven by twelve inches) is arranged for an ingot twelve bytwelve inches in the crosssection, so that at each passage of the ingotthrough this box it shall be reduced one inch in thickness. When theingot has been passed through the rolls twice-that is to say, throughthe box e and then through the box e it is reduced to ten by twelveinches. It is then turned on edge, and the third passageto wit, throughthe box c -reduces it to ten by eleven inches; the fourth passage-towit, through the box e -to ten by ten inches; and so on through theboxes of diminishing size until it has been reduced to the desired size.

The boxes f and f (each eight by eight inches) and the boxes f and f(each six by six inches) are smooth, the opposing rolls being, for thesespaces, without cogs. These smooth spaces are provided for smoothing theingots, and for removing the corrugations formed on the surfaces of theingots during their passage through the cogged spaces e e, &c.

The cogs are constructed in regular gear form. For rolls of the sizerepresented in Fig. 1, the cogs should measure two inches from center tocenter and one inch in depth, the face or width of each cog being aboutfiftythree one-hundredths of their two-inch pitch, thus giving to theface of each cog more than one-halt of the space between the cogs.

I prefer town the rolls at the rate of twenty inches per second, butthis speed may be varied as required.

The action of the cogs is to force the metal from the top and bottom tothe middle of the ingot or pile, and, the pressure being great, causesthe silicon to flow into the cracks, seams, and porous places, (thesurplus silicon to escape through the pores and at the ends of the ingotas it passes through the machine,) and when the ingot or pile leaves themachine it is thoroughly worked, and is solid and freed of foreignmatters.

The rolls above described are adapted to the working of ingots and pilesof all the usual sizes; but the rolls and boxes may be varied in size,observing the proportions stated.

For ingots or piles less than six inches square in the cross-section,rolls of eighteen or twenty inches diameter are large enough,

and cogs arranged from one-quarter to one and three-quarter inch pitchwill answer the purpose.

For compressing and reducing plates and sheets, I make use of thetwo-high rolls represented in Figs. 4 and 5. These rolls are cogged fromend to end, or fluted, no dividingcollars being employed, and the top ofthe roll is adjusted by screws at each end, as in ordinary plate-mills.

The cogged rolls herein referred to are essentially diii'erent from, andare not to be confused with, the corrugated rolls commonly used inrolling steel ingots. When my cogged rolls are employed the bearing ofthe cogs on the metal is only at intervals; but when the corrugatedrolls are used, the bearing of the rolls is continuous, owing to theshallowness of the flutes or furrows.

Power is applied to the rolls in the ordinary manner. The power requiredto compress ingots by the above-described process is only one-fifth ofthe amount of power required to effect the same results by the ordinarydraft process.

A twelve-inch-square ingot, when drawn by ordinary plain or uncoggedrollers, is drawn asunder the entire square of one hundred andforty-four inches, whereas, by my above-described process, only twelveinches of the metal are acted upon by the cogs at one and the sameinstant.

The capacity for work of the machine represented in Fig. 1 is ten tonsper hour.

For piles composed of bars of steel I employ rolls arranged as shown inFig. 3--viz., two pairs of horizontal rolls and one pair'of uprightrolls, these several rolls being cogged and otherwise constructed asshown in Fig. 1. A pile of the description last referred to I pass oncethrough these rolls, when it isin condition to be drawn by the ordinarydraft process.

I use the described process and machinery for brass and copper ingots aswell as for steel ingots.

I claim- 1. The process of compressing steel ingots, piles, and plates,and brass and copper ingots, which consists in passing them through thecogged rolls, constructed and arranged substantially as set forth.

2. The process which consists in passing steel ingots and piles throughthe boxes or cogged spaces of the rolls to disengage the silicon andforce it into the seams and porous parts of the ingot or pile, and toexpress the surplus silicon through the pores and out at the ends of theingot, and then smoothing the corrugations on the compressed ingot orpile by passing the same through the smooth boxes of the rolls,substantially as set forth.

GEORGE WHITFIELD BILLINGS.

Witnesses CHAS. Fox, J. O. HERN.

